Celina Teague

Celina Teague

Born in London (1981), Celina Teague received her MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College in 2007. Prior to this, she studied Fine Art at the Universidad de Bellas Artes in Oaxaca, Mexico, graduating in 2005. Teague’s paintings take their cue from current affairs - particularly events that affect the wellbeing of the planet, such as bush fires, rainforest destruction, poaching and climate-change-denying politicians. She is equally interested by the dissemination of information in the digital era; how it affects the way we interpret and handle crisis events. She asks whether armchair activism is a dangerously false economy or better than no activism at all. Solo shows include Your House is on Fire, XVA Gallery, Dubai (2020); Not for The Kid’s Room, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2018); I Think Therefore I #, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2015); In Search of Lost Space, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2013); Brave New World Hits a Glitch at Rook and Raven Gallery, London (2013); My Bunny is Full of Teeth and Other Stories at Roa Gallery, London (2011). Group exhibitions include Plastic at Taskeel, Dubai (2020); Kunst4Kids, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2018); Everything Exists Now, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2017); ING Discerning Eye exhibition, Mall Galleries, London (2017); London Art Fair, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (2016); Investida, Spuk&Nik Gallery, Porto (2015); Why Not?, Nando Arguelles, Cadiz (2014); The Oceana Junior Ocean Council Launch, Phillips Auction House, London (2014). Teague‘s performance series and talks include Slacktivism, Social Media and the Power of Painting with Daniel Barnes, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2015) and Ode to Salmon and For the Love of Insects at London Bridge and the Talking Dogfood Lecture Series, London (both 2010). Her work has been shown at various art fairs, and awards and residencies include a 2012 Takt Artist Residency in Berlin and inclusion on the shortlist for the 2013 Beers Lambert Contemporary Visions IV. Teague currently lives and works in Portugal.

Money & Fairy Tales

Characterful, vibrant animals and bold slogan text combine on the canvas to create arresting imagery that simultaneously seduces and confronts the viewer. For her forthcoming solo show Money & Fairytales at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery Berlin, Portugal-based artist Celina Teague continues her exploration of climate change and environmental issues in relation to the information and imagery that we consume through media sources.

The exhibition borrows its title from Greta Thunberg’s speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in 2019, whilst several of the paintings repurpose the slogans of other young activists in both a celebration of their efforts, and a critique of the adoption of language as an image without deeper consideration for the message that it conveys. By reframing these familiar phrases of text within a painted image, Teague rebels against rapid digital consumption and invites us to engage in a deeper kind of contemplation. Whilst the artist admits that many of these most recent works appear confrontational, she does not subscribe to the idea of didacticism. Her artistic practice is, in part, an expression of her own personal sense of responsibility and guilt: ‘When I heard Greta give her speech at the summit, it was a moment of reckoning. I felt like she was addressing me personally. I used to think that climate issues were the fault of my parents’ generation but I realised that it is my generation who are the worst because we had all of the facts at our fingertips.’ Teague is interested, primarily, in how art can contribute to these kinds of conversations, and offer fresh perspectives on incomprehensible statistics and unrelatable media jargon.

Alongside Teague’s slogan paintings are a collection of portraits in which the artist foregrounds a rare, exotic or overlooked animal such as the horned marsupial frog or pigeon. These works are the result of a layered creative process in which Teague first researches the animal, then writes an accompanying poem before creating the final painting with fragments of her own text stencilled onto the background. The bright colour palette, and combination of image and text is instantly eye-catching, demonstrating Teague’s understanding of contemporary viewing habits, whilst also drawing our attention to the inner existence of these creatures as sentient beings. ‘When I paint animals, I want people to see how extraordinary they are, and the text offers a different layer of perception that moves beyond pure image,’ comments the artist. Indeed, as we view these works, our gaze moves back and forth between the animal’s portrait and the emboldened words, offering alternating narratives that, in turn, ask us to consider the limitations of our prescribed perspectives.

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Celina Teague: Money and Fairy Tales

Celina Teague - Money & Fairy Tales

Money & Fairy Tales

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